Conventional message management systems provide capabilities for the collection, organization, monitoring, storage, and retrieval of incoming and outgoing email messages. Some message management systems also enable administrators to set criteria for storing email messages, and/or attachments associated therewith, by copying and/or moving them to secondary storage locations, and may include centralized storage and retrieval capabilities that can automatically move email messages and/or attachments between main and secondary storage. Some email message management systems can also capture and index incoming and outgoing emails, and allow users and administrators to search emails.
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a conventional system 100 in which a message management system 105 enables email archive searching. The message management system 105 includes an email archiver 134 and an email archive searcher 120. The email archiver 134 retrieves incoming and outgoing emails from an email server 132 and archives the email messages in an email archive 130. Email archive 130 refers to a store of emails, which may be stored on any type of storage, and need not be limited to a long-term form of storage (e.g., tape). For example, the email archive may be stored on magnetic tapes, compact discs, hard disks and/or any other form of storage.
System 100 also comprises a global address catalog (GAC) 110 containing a list of messaging identities in an organization. The GAC 110 may be used by the message management system 105 to present a list of display names for the messaging identities in the organization, and a user may select one or more of the display names whose associated emails (in the email archive 130) the user wishes to search for. The email archive searcher 120 may resolve the display names into one or more associated email addresses using information contained in the GAC 110, and execute a search of the email archive 130 for emails received at and/or sent from the associated email addresses. The email archive searcher 120 may output search results 140 of the email messages (in the email archive 130) that have been received at and/or sent from the email addresses associated with the selected display names.